Canyon, Authors, Gus Knows Math

Well, the BAD news is, the horsie branch has been cut! Just cut right off like a shortened elephant trunk! The girls have been playing horsie on this branch for I don't even know how long, so (as you can see from the somber picture) we feel the loss keenly!

But the GOOD news is, we got some time to enjoy the canyon in the beautiful Fall weather. I think this visit was on the last day of September and the leaves hadn't even fully turned colors yet. The stream, which is sometimes nonexistent this time of year, was going strong and only the brave among us dared teeter across it on a fallen log.

This was during a break between the girls' Math classes, so we had the joy of their company for a couple hours. They were in fine form.

Ziggy is under one of those blankets. Clementine is already in the car (she was getting cold!)

Further down the canyon, the sun was out, and the kids basked in it like lizards trying to get their blood moving.

Ah, finally getting warmer!

Running around helps warm everyone up too. (Whenever a child is cold I tell him reflexively to "go run around." I wouldn't be surprised if this phrase ended up on my gravestone.)

Beautiful sunlit Junie!

Shining golden Goldie!

Moss! Not quite as profuse as Oregon moss, but lovely all the same.

Beautiful American Fork Canyon!

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School update…

Gus drew pictures of all the kinds of rocks we've been finding and talking about. Aren't they beautiful?

Then Clementine drew some too!

This was sugar "glass" we made on the day we talked about obsidian

Excavating for permineralized bones in jello

Fire station field trip!

The firemen got a call right as they finished showing us around. There was no rushing or panic, but we knew we had to leave when they got a call, so we quickly said goodbye and walked out. Before we even got to our car, and probably only about 30 seconds after we'd left, they all had their gear on and we heard the siren as the fire truck drove away! They are so fast!

Gus has been able to read for what seems like ages now, and many of the kids have just stopped doing "reading lesson" at that point (often somewhere around lesson 75)…but Gus wanted to make sure he read every single story in the book, so he persisted in asking me about it, even when we would forget to do it for weeks at a time. Finally, he finished the book! Yay!

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And a bunch more random stuff…

Ziggy's new favorite shirt (he loves purple)

A supercilious egg (Junie's work)

Bounteous marigold bouquet

Ziggy said to me, "“Is it okay to wear three pins on my suit or is that against the Word of Wisdom?”

This dent in the wall was made by Teddy's head when he fell UP the stairs. Don't ask me, I still can't figure out how that happened. His head was surprisingly okay, so I guess the wall took the worst of it. Sam doesn't think this picture gives an accurate idea of how big the dent is. Tennis-ball-sized, maybe?

Smudgy rain

Gus's ghost finger puppet

Ballet dancer, by Clementine (note her "pointy shoes" and her bun!)

We went to a police dog demonstration at the library (verdict: too much police, not enough dog) and it was fun to see how happily the dogs attack the padded "Bite Arm." They are such good, obedient dogs.

Afterwards the policeman let the kids try on his vest.

Clementine thought it was hilarious!

Pretty clouds

Another canyon day

Dressed-up gorilla

In Heber City with the girls

Yet another superhero idea from Gus—"Pin Man"

Pretty twilight glow on Y Mountain

Daisy and Abe walking off to school together one day when Daisy stayed over in Provo at my mom's house.

We are all Duckies in Duolingo

Pretty Fall light on the house

Daisy and me in almost-matching dresses

Clementine swinging at Grandma's house (having been pushed SO high by my brother Karl)

Ziggy was very enthusiastic about writing a book for about 2 hours. (Just like his mama. The quitting after two hours part, not the writing a book part! I always wanted to write books when I was young but I never saw it through. Way too much work!) His main excitement was over his "about the author" page, for which he had me print out a nice picture of him. I loved the biographical sketch he wrote for himself so much, especially the first part: "Ezekiel Nielson is the brother of 9 children." Ha! He isn't wrong!

Gus caught the writing bug from Zig and made some books of his own. This one was SO cute, about "The Seven Caws." He gave them all such cute names (Fludr, Flie, and so forth) and this is how it ended: "One day there was a thunderstorm, but they still lived, and Fludr said, 'I love days like this one.'" Me too, Fludr.

Last year Gus had his "Redding" shirt (what he called his red and black plaid, for unknown reasons) which he's now grown out of. Since Clementine's favorite color is brown, I got her this brown plaid, and everyone now calls it her "Browning" dress. And of course, a matching Browning shirt for Gus! They always want to match and I will never not facilitate that desire.

Gus said for Family Home Evening show-and-tell that he "knew math." Naturally we all wanted to see a demonstration of this gift, so he gave us one! (He started with 2+2 and went on with the doubles up to 64, while we all watched and oohed and ahhed.)

My niece Katy and little Parker came to visit, so we got to have a Parker Fan Club meeting

Daisy and Clementine reading their Bibles together (Daisy is in an Old Testament class at BYU, and Clementine just borrowed my Bible and snuggled in to join her as she studied)

The kids watched "Big Hero 6" and this is Clementine's adorable Baymax she drew afterwards

Spotted in the neighborhood: A gnome bush! It's one of those tall grasses just folded over and tied like a beard, with a hat on top. So cute!

Pretty hair for ballet. Clementine knew very specifically what she wanted and described it to me: "Two braids on the side and then ALSO put them into a bun." It's crazy to me that she's starting to be old enough to notice and care about such pretty little touches!